Fuel valve control for gas burners



oct. 29, 1935. NI T, BRANCH 2,019,114

FUE-JL VALVE CONTROL FOR GAS BURNERS Filed April 17, 1934 y G' oN 32 i?. I GAS oFF 33 ZJ y l (6 .lin/enter:

Patented oci. zo, 193s UNITED STATES PATENT oF-FicE rum. vALyE/coN'raoL Fon ndas sommes Application April .17,- 1934, Serial No. 720,986

2 Claiml. (Cl. 158-11731) This invention relates tov apparatus for controlling Ythe operation of a fuel valve for a burner In such a way that the fuel valve cannot be opened from a remote point, in case the pilot -for the burner is not lit; and has for its object to provide a control apparatus that shall have special utility 'in connection with domestic gas burning apparatus such as gas fired furnaces and water heaters which are usually located in the basement and the fuel valve for which is manually operated from a room above.

Referring to the drawing wherein the preferred form of the invention is shown,-

Fig. 1 is a more or less diagrammatic representation of a domestic heating plant embodying a warm air furnace fired by a gas burner and showing the present invention applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a'sectional view on a larger scale of a feature of the invention shown in' Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of an element lshown in F18. 2:

Fig. 41s a sectional view on a larger scale of the fuel valve shown in Fig. 1, and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary elevation of the pilot. For the lpurpose of showing the application of the invention, there is shown a warm air furnace 5 such as is ordinarily located in the basement of a house and which delivers the warm air through a register in the first floor 6 of the house. The

furnace is fired by any preferred type of gas,

burner 1 shown as mounted on an-upwa'rdlyturned end 8 of a fuel supply conduit 3 which extends horizontally out of the furnace through the front end III of a casing II which extends into the furnace through what is ordinarily the ash pit door opening in a coal fired furnace. This casing is provided with a damper I2 which when the burner is operating is open to admit secondary air thereto. The outer end of the conduit 8 is open to the atmosphere and has associated therewith a shutter. I8 for controlling the inflow of primary air for mixing with the gas which is delivered to the conduit bythe pipe Il when the fuel control valve I5 is open; the main gas supply line being indicated at I8. Associated with the burner 1 is a pilot I1 to which gas is supplied by a pipe I8 leading from the inlet side of the main valve I5. The construction this far described is well known in the Associated with the puoi: l1 1s a. 'thermostat is which when the pilot is lit will be heated by flames issuing from the side of the pilot as through a series of small ports or a slot I9 which extends downwardly from the tip of the pilot iii such a is so. adjusted on the way that the ame from the tip of the pilot will ignite the gas issuing from theL said slot or ports. The thermostat may be of any preferred construction and as shown may be considered as comprising a to a bracket 20, the other end being free. The bracket is part of supporting arm orv tube 2| which extends through a supporting bracket 22 secured to the casing wall I0.

Housed by the tube 2| is a rod 23 which at one i0 end is connected'to the free end of the thermostat I8 for movement therewith. 'Adjustably mounted'on the outer end of the tube 2i is'a tubular body 24 havingfa peripheral groove 25 adjacent its outer end. Housed inthe body 24 is l5 a light spring 56 which surrounds the rod 28 and t'endsvto move the latter toward the left as viewed in Fig. 2, the purpose of the spring being merely to take up anyslack in the connection between the rod and thermostat.

tube 2I that when the thermostat I8 is in normally heated condition the rod 23 will extend beyond the outer end of the body as shown in Figs.l and 2.

Normally interlocked with vthe body 2l and rod 25 23 is a, latch element or member 26 comprising two parallelly-extending and laterally-spaced iiat arms 21. and 28 of unequal length. The longer arm 21 is provided with a hole 29 to receive the rod 23 and the arm 28 has an arcuate 'reentrant 80 portion to permit it to make a good seat in the body groove 25. When the parts 23, 2l and 26 are interengaged as in Fig. 2, it will be readily appreciatedA that the member 26 cannot be detached from the support 24A-and this is' the normal position of the parts when the thermostat is kept in a heated condition by the flames issuing from the side of the pilot I1. On the other hand, when the pilot goes out the thermostat will4 cool off 'and pull the rod toward the right a sufficient distance to disengage the latter from the arm 21 with the result that the latch f member 26 will no longer be anchored with re- 'spect to the body 2l. The latch member 28'forins part of a mechanism for manually operating the fuel valve i5 from. remote point as from a wall bracket 3| in the room above the oor 8. The said bracket may be considered as having two pins or hooks 32 spaced relation. These pins serve as anchorages'for a ring 3l at the upper end of a cable 35 trained over pulleys 36 'secured be- I neath theiloor 6 and having at its lower end a pulley 31. A Trained over the pulley" is a cable 38 which at one end is secured to the latch elel5 bi-metal strip which at one end is secured 3 The body 24 11ol ment 26 and at its other end to one end of a lever 39. This lever is pivotally mounted as at 40 on a bracket 4I supported by the valve casing i5. The lever 39 is arranged directly over a valve stem 42 which when depressed will open the valve 43 iective to open said valve.

vIt is desirable that the secondary air damper I2 be opened and closed as the gas valvei'is opened and closed and to this end the lever 39 is extended suiliciently to permita connection 451mm the damper to be secured to the lever arm. A light spring 46 insures that the, damper when closed will not prevent the lever from moving to a position where the valve 43 is fully closed under the influence of the valve spring 44.

What I claim is:

1. In combination, a burner, a fuel supply valve for the burner, means for normally .holding said valve closedmeans for opening the valve, said last-named means including a cable which requires to be taut to hold the valve open, means for holding one end of the cable a rod, a barrel having a circumferential groove, a

` member having a part in said groove and having a hole wherethrough said md extends, said member being secured to one end o! s'aid cable and being releasable from said barrel when the rod is withdrawn from said hole, and a thermostat for withdrawing the rod from said hole when the temperature of the ,thermostat falls below a predetermined degree.

2. In apparatus of the class described, the combination' of a fuel supply valve biased to closed position, means for opening said valve and oomprlsing a support and a member which requires to be anchored to said support, means for relt leasably anchoring said member to said support and comprising two lingers on said member one o1' which is impositively anchored to said support, a rod ,which is movable with respect to said support, and which in one position holds the other 80 of said ilngers when the ilrstmentioned finger is anchoredtothebodyassaidandaheatresponsive device arranged to move said rod away from said one position whereby said member will be released from said support when the temperll ature oi' said device falls below a predetermined degree.

NEIBON T. BRANCHE. 

